Marty Durlin

Online Editor

‘Tis Spring, and that means the owl babies are hatching. Great horned owls nest early, usually in January or February, and both male and female tend the 2-3 white eggs, which incubate for about a month. Great horned owls use other birds’ nests, generally those built by hawks, herons or crows, but they also nest in alcoves, tree hollows, abandoned buildings or even on the ground. The babies fledge from the nest at 45-55 days old.

Adult great horned owls weigh 3-4 pounds, standing as high as two feet tall with a wingspan of more than a yard. The owls’ diet consists of pretty much anything they can get their talons into, including prairie dogs, rabbits, squirrels, mice, weasels, skunks, snakes, cats, bats, beetles, scorpions, frogs, grasshoppers and other birds. They upchuck pellets of the indigestible stuff — fur, feathers, exoskeletons and bones — several hours after they’ve eaten, often at a favorite roost. Both parents feed the young.

Check out the live owl cam at Boulder’s NCAR, where “Maude” and “Harold” have a brood of two. Whooo.